Anyone just finished AS Art? I need some help...

I put down to start it next year, but I'm starting to have second thoughts.

I didn't do GCSE, because my stupid school wouldn't let me - the option blocks etc. but I was (hopefully still am) good at art. I was in Gifted and Talented and stuff. So m college said its fine for me to do AS. At first I was really excited because I really missed art these last few years, and I really love it. I considered doing architecture for a while (sort of still am) and art is necessary for that. But I've been thinking for a while that I don't really want to do architecture anymore, so art isn't really necessary.

My other subjects are Maths, Further Maths, Chem and Bio, so I know my workload will already quite big, and with the masses of work I'll have to do for Art, I think it might be too much. I'm also worried I won't be up to the standard of my classmates, and I'm used to being one of the best, so I don't want my confidence to take a knock if that makes sense. And I've been struggling for inspiration with the summe project we've been set. But at the same time, I still really love it.

So basically, I'm looking for other people's experience of the subject and its workload, and just general advice. If I dropped Art, would you recommend taking another subject instead? Which one? I want a bit more of a range, so something more essay based might be good - maybe psychology? I don't know...

Reply 1

bailey's blizzard

Art is a lot of work. There is a lot of writing involved aswell. You basically need to reference everything you do by researching other artists so there is a lot of writing. If you enjoy art take it, if your unsure maybe try something else because with my experience of A Levels, if your not really into the subject, you'll fall behind. Especially art because its a lot of effort to keep it up!

Reply 2

SabaBlackSheep

I'm interested in the responses to this thread too.

I want to see if I can take Art AS extra-curricularly, like I have done with the GCSE- what do you guys think?

Reply 3

SabaBlackSheep

As soon as I show interest, thread dies.
This is the life I lead.

Reply 4

Ladipidoo

14

dymphna

I put down to start it next year, but I'm starting to have second thoughts.

I didn't do GCSE, because my stupid school wouldn't let me - the option blocks etc. but I was (hopefully still am) good at art. I was in Gifted and Talented and stuff. So m college said its fine for me to do AS. At first I was really excited because I really missed art these last few years, and I really love it. I considered doing architecture for a while (sort of still am) and art is necessary for that. But I've been thinking for a while that I don't really want to do architecture anymore, so art isn't really necessary.

My other subjects are Maths, Further Maths, Chem and Bio, so I know my workload will already quite big, and with the masses of work I'll have to do for Art, I think it might be too much. I'm also worried I won't be up to the standard of my classmates, and I'm used to being one of the best, so I don't want my confidence to take a knock if that makes sense. And I've been struggling for inspiration with the summe project we've been set. But at the same time, I still really love it.

So basically, I'm looking for other people's experience of the subject and its workload, and just general advice. If I dropped Art, would you recommend taking another subject instead? Which one? I want a bit more of a range, so something more essay based might be good - maybe psychology? I don't know...

Maybe you could drop Maths and stick to just Further Maths? I've done AS Art and the workload wasn't really all that much tbh - well, in my experience anyway. It's a good subject, though. :smile:

Reply 5

somethingbeautiful

18

SabaBlackSheep

I'm interested in the responses to this thread too.

I want to see if I can take Art AS extra-curricularly, like I have done with the GCSE- what do you guys think?

I did A-level art (both AS & A2) and I'll warn you that it isn't a walk in the park.

It's a lot of work and it's very time consuming, but if you are able then go for it. I had a friend who applied to study medicine (she is doing now) and she took 4 sciences (Math/Bio/Pys/Chem) as well as gen studies and in her A2 year she decided to take Art AS. She aced everything still (got a B in Art) so it it very possible to take it as 'something extra' if you are academically strong.

For me, it was my first choice for A-level so I stuctured my other subjects around it, I didn't view it as peripheral.

Reply 6

jon838

13

SabaBlackSheep

As soon as I show interest, thread dies.
This is the life I lead.

ha!

Reply 7

mackey

I've not done AS but I did do Art Higher in IB. During this time I jeopardised my education for 3/4 of the 2 years as I was too busy doing art. I was told that I'd be a failure and that things were going to ****. The truth is if you have passion for your subject you'll work around the workload. You'll have to make up your mind though. It's very difficult to be academic and artistic at the same time. My involvement in art took up around 25-30 hours in the week. In the end I proved them bastards wrong, aced the diploma and got directly accepted into 2nd year of fine art sculpture. But you must be dedicated!

Reply 8

SabaBlackSheep

somethingbeautiful

I did A-level art (both AS & A2) and I'll warn you that it isn't a walk in the park.

It's a lot of work and it's very time consuming, but if you are able then go for it. I had a friend who applied to study medicine (she is doing now) and she took 4 sciences (Math/Bio/Pys/Chem) as well as gen studies and in her A2 year she decided to take Art AS. She aced everything still (got a B in Art) so it it very possible to take it as 'something extra' if you are academically strong.

For me, it was my first choice for A-level so I stuctured my other subjects around it, I didn't view it as peripheral.

What's the workload like, compared to the GCSE?

Reply 9

somethingbeautiful

18

SabaBlackSheep

What's the workload like, compared to the GCSE?

It's as much as you are willing to do.

A-level isn't spoon fed so you'll have to come up with your own ideas and develop them yourself.
You could make an excellent module with high quality wok, without many pieces and still get an A. Some of it may not even be completed, as long as it shows a clear train of thought and attention to detail and as long as you have a focused final outcome from the module.

Also, you're expected to do more written work in the A-level - much more annotation and explanation of your pieces as well as a 3,000 word essay in the A2 year.

You can't just draw an image from a magazine etc in A-level, there has to be a theme to each module and reason for every piece.

So yeah, it's a managable workload, but in essence, you set the workload yourself by the topics that you chose and how complex your ideas are. As a rough guide though, you're expected to have at least 12 pieces + a final outcome per topic.
As I said, it's quality not quantity, so if you only do 12 pieces you won't necessarily be at a disadvantage to other candidates - as long as the work is very good you can ace it.

Reply 10

rosielovesmitchell

bailey's blizzard

Art is a lot of work. There is a lot of writing involved aswell. You basically need to reference everything you do by researching other artists so there is a lot of writing. If you enjoy art take it, if your unsure maybe try something else because with my experience of A Levels, if your not really into the subject, you'll fall behind. Especially art because its a lot of effort to keep it up!

What is the "lot of writing" to do with? I didn't know there was lots of writing involved, i'm curious

Reply 11

rosielovesmitchell

SabaBlackSheep

As soon as I show interest, thread dies.
This is the life I lead.

There there.

Reply 12

menaa-x

Art AS does have a fairly big work load.
But it's really good because -
The exam is in about April time, meaning you have one less exam in June and more time to revise for them :p:

That's what I found anyway.

Reply 13

somethingbeautiful

18

menaa-x

Art AS does have a fairly big work load.
But it's really good because -
The exam is in about April time, meaning you have one less exam in June and more time to revise for them :p:

That's what I found anyway.

Plus, it's the only exam where you can have headphones and eat :biggrin:

Reply 14

bailey's blizzard

rosielovesmitchell

What is the "lot of writing" to do with? I didn't know there was lots of writing involved, i'm curious

With my exam board at least.. think it was wjec?! We had to evaluate everything we did in quite a bit of detail and reference at least 3 artists for each major piece of work. These were like researching their history and analysing their work in detail.. ended up to be a lot of writing!

Reply 15

prettylittlerichgirl

1

AS art will take over your life. Or at least the way my teacher taught it it did. There is no physical way you can hope for a good grade and do it all extra-curricularly, from my experience. Last year I had eight periods of it a week, stayed after school to do it most nights, and then spent about two hours every night working on my sketchbooks... Though saying that, some of that was spent on photography as well.
Even now over the summer I'm getting a head start by doing some of my A2 work because it is just that time consuming.
If you have the motivation and are capable of putting the effort in, you will love it. If you're not, I wouldn't even bother trying with it. But really, it is the most enjoyable of all my A-levels. Good luck!

Reply 16

staceford

Having taken art at GCSE, i decided to take it at AS/A Level, and to be honest when i walked out of that 15 hour exam, it was the best feeling ever! I found at my school, the workload from GCSE to A Level quite dramatic and didn't feel like i recieved much teaching - then again as someone said - it's not going to be spoon fed to you. The fact that i didn't seem to 'gel' with my art teacher didn't help the matter as i would dread lessons, she had clear favourites and would often highlight my mistakes in front of the entire class, don't get me wrong, i don't mind 'constructive criticism', but she could have handled it in a more personal matter. When i read the prospectus for A Level art, it boasted of modules such as Fine Art, Textiles, Photography, Fashion etc.. which attracted me as i'm not a heavy traditional artist, however as the 2 years progressed it became clear that the only things that were accepted as art were drawings - although this was meant to be a multi module subject? Knowing what i know now, i wish i could go back 2 years and not take Art A Level, although it was with my friends, i could have scored much higher in another subject. Since we were told to 'live, breathe, eat and sleep art', i practically had no time for anything else.
Although what i've just described may come across as negative, i can gurantee that my school is particularly demanding on the workload as i have had friends who have been accepted onto art foundation courses and the lectures there are genuinely shocked by how much work we had to do...

My advice is to really look at whether you will be able to manage such a demanding subject and whether you really have the motivation to enjoy the work!

(and one other thing, we weren't allowed music in our 15 hour exam this year, told it was banned?! - the 3 days draaaaged...)

Reply 17

SabaBlackSheep

prettylittlerichgirl

AS art will take over your life. Or at least the way my teacher taught it it did. There is no physical way you can hope for a good grade and do it all extra-curricularly, from my experience. Last year I had eight periods of it a week, stayed after school to do it most nights, and then spent about two hours every night working on my sketchbooks... Though saying that, some of that was spent on photography as well.
Even now over the summer I'm getting a head start by doing some of my A2 work because it is just that time consuming.
If you have the motivation and are capable of putting the effort in, you will love it. If you're not, I wouldn't even bother trying with it. But really, it is the most enjoyable of all my A-levels. Good luck!

This year, I had 3 AS levels, 8 GCSEs and Art as an extra.
Next year I'll have 3 AS levels and 2 A-levels- surely I'll have time for some Arts? I mean, I know A-levels are more time-consuming, but not 8 GCSEs worth of time, right?

Reply 18

prettylittlerichgirl

1

SabaBlackSheep

This year, I had 3 AS levels, 8 GCSEs and Art as an extra.
Next year I'll have 3 AS levels and 2 A-levels- surely I'll have time for some Arts? I mean, I know A-levels are more time-consuming, but not 8 GCSEs worth of time, right?

Depends how good you are at managing your time, I suppose. But I would expect not. If you can cope with that, I would say you can cope with art.
I think I only found it all so hard to manage because I had art, photography, as well as another coursework subject and an essay based subject, which took up horrible amounts of time. Plus it's near impossible to do as much work as you should at boarding school...